"If I could go back in time and like tell 11 year old me that like not only do you get to go to Comic Con but you go every year. So much so that you get greeted by Stan Lee when you show up. And 11 year old me would be like - How did we get so fat?" - Kevin Smith

I think mini's are the way they are going on all Eternal Warrior stories. Which I'm actually ok with.

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"If I could go back in time and like tell 11 year old me that like not only do you get to go to Comic Con but you go every year. So much so that you get greeted by Stan Lee when you show up. And 11 year old me would be like - How did we get so fat?" - Kevin Smith

Just wanted to stop by and say what a joy it has been getting back in touch with Valiant comics again. The past few issues of this title (X-O Manowar) alone have just been fun as hell. It is like reading a great new series, universe, all with the wonderment of what will happen next that I use to have with reading comics as a youth. Sure, we know that nothing is really gonna happen to our headliner, but the events around him, the newness of everything is just so damn enjoyable.

This last 3 issue (mainly) run of X-O is a prime example of that. In issues #30 through #32 we get the Armories storyline that gives us yet another "bad guy", another villain(?) for us to explore. I mean, that is cool right? Getting new adversaries for our heroes?

Combined with the fantastic Armor Hunters event that ran from issues 23 to 28 (or so) Robert Vendetti is showing us here that he (who also writes the new Wrath of Eternal Warrior that just started and I have yet to crack open) and the rest of the main Valiant writers, Matt Kindt (from Mind MGMT fame and currently Ninjak/Rai/Divinity), Joshua Dysart (from Unknown Soldier and now Harbinger/Imperium) and new'ish addition Jeff Lemire (Bloodshot:Reborn for Valiant, Trillium/Sweet Tooth prior and also currently Descender/Hawkeye/Extraordinary X-Men) know how to craft a damn universe.

Yes, I am aware that sounded more like an ad, and more for Valiant as a whole instead of for X-O, but X-O really is the linchpin that holds this universe together. Well, IT and at least the first 16 issues of Unity that I have read.

Anywho ... Just here once again to plead with anyone who may read my drug induced drivel here to go grab everything you can from Valiant (except for maybe the recent Shadowman run ). Support a company that really deserves it. A company putting out great damn stories.

As I feel this book went a good year or two longer than it should (It was just hard for this X-O guy to have a good, interesting conflict, though they mainly pulled it off arc after arc ... mostly), I was happy to see it come to a satisfying end. It wasn't as great as earlier stuff, again, the last issues leading up to this arc kinda has just felt stretched out with no good conflict for the most part and while a part of me rolls his eyes at issue 50 and

the way Trill and Aric ended things

, I think this last arc was pretty well done, overall.

Not true Spoilers ahead, but avoid if you want to know absolutely nothing ....

This last arc was very much a fan/writer love nod for Jack Kirby (and not just because of the street sign). A true "cosmic" arc ending with stand in "Celestials" and a sense of Galactus/Silver Surfer'esque story-telling. And the last issue closed the book on this chapter of X-O. Not anything overly grand, but a good end to a good arc of a good series.

7 outta 10 - satisfying sighs. An good end to a series that lasted just a tad too longbut10 out 10 - nods to whom they were showing the love, Jack "King" Kirby.

"If I could go back in time and like tell 11 year old me that like not only do you get to go to Comic Con but you go every year. So much so that you get greeted by Stan Lee when you show up. And 11 year old me would be like - How did we get so fat?" - Kevin Smith

After having finished the second Deluxe HC (takes me up through issue...22, before the obvious Armor Hunter storyline), I love how damned primitive Aric is.

I mean, all these people are yelling and telling him things, and with words he doesn't know, so what does he do? Ignore everything, and simply state what he'll do!! HAHA what a clod, an uneducated philistine-

-with the greatest weapon mankind has ever lain eyes on. Now THAT is terrifying. Looking forward to next month when I can drop some money to get the next deluxe HC!!